old hit & miss engines and early tractors
 

I stopped over at my former neighbor's friday at lunch and took pics of hit & miss engines until my batteries went dead. Sam is now 87 and still doing great

He has an exact copy of your Fairbanks 3hp Model Z ( his is a 1920 mfg ) that he purchased about 1950.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v7...DCP_4240-1.jpg

Here's the governor set up
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v7...DCP_4260-1.jpg

He had that in the "engine house" right next to the barn. Here is the 5hp Challenge engine that his Dad purchased brand new in 1902 right in Lansdale,PA ( 10 miles away ) at J.L. Freed. The business is still running and is currently a Cadillac & Honda dealer.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v7...DCP_4243-1.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v7...DCP_4244-1.jpg

Original bill of sale
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v7...DCP_4259-1.jpg
full size http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v7...s/DCP_4259.jpg

He's got this Cletrac track tractor too
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v7...DCP_4245-1.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v7...DCP_4246-1.jpg

This was sitting right behind it.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v7...DCP_4247-1.jpg

He sold his big steamer and got this smaller one
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v7...DCP_4248-1.jpg

Went in the building and it was even better than I remembered

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v7...DCP_4252-1.jpg

How 'bout this one, twin cylinder 40 hp
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v7...DCP_4255-1.jpg

Here's one that was made right down the hard road from my friend Bill.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v7...DCP_4249-1.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v7...DCP_4250-1.jpg

Here's an early International Harvester
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v7...DCP_4254-1.jpg

Here's a steel wheeled Traylor tractor
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v7...DCP_4253-1.jpg

Here's one of his rubber tire John Deere
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v7...DCP_4256-1.jpg

Too new for you? How about steel wheels?
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v7...DCP_4251-1.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v7...DCP_4257-1.jpg


When we were heading back to the house, I spied this back in the engine house. It's one of the first Maytag washer engines which allowed clothes to be washed in a MACHINE

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v7...DCP_4258-1.jpg


I'll be heading back with plenty of batteries and a notepad to get the history on as many of these engines as I can. Sam started collecting these in the 30s and is still at it :cool:

Jeff

That is cool as shit. Do they all work?

Looks like most of them are in running or near running condition. That is like going to a muesum... VERY VERY COOL!

This was manufactured about 40 minutes from my house. Unfortunately, it's gone now (as are most of the old manufacturing companies in Syracuse). If you want to look at some cool stuff, Google Syracuse, NY early manufacturing companies sometime. :)

Very cool.

What would the 5hp Challenge engine be used to run?

$270 was a SHIT-TON of money in 1902!

That's some cool stuff! :rockwoot: Looks like he's got it set up almost as a museum.

thats a lot of really awesome history right there. he should make sure its written in his will thta it becomes a museum when he passes on so those things arent just scrapped.

x's 10!! That stuff is awesomely cool! Its nice to see its still in good shape too!

The first one moves but hasn't been running in a few decades. All the ones in the later pics run.

He donated quite a few engines and other early equipment to the local historical museum. An old farm was donated to that historical meseum so now instead of static displays, they have them working.

My friend Bill lives outside Syracuse that why that picture got put up. He just got a fairbanks 3hp model Z like the first one.

That was very close to the price of a car in a few years.

As I said in the first post, it's mounted in the engine shed. The wide leather belt runs up to the pulley shaft mounted at celing height. A lever either powers the left side or the right side of the shaft. On the outside of the engine shed is a pulley ( on each side). The one on the "barn bridge" side has another wide leather belt that runs the corn grinder.
( barn bridge -- that's the dirt ramp that goes from ground level to the second floor of the barn)

Sam runs that engine every year and sometimes still uses it to grind corn for feed.

Lots of good stuff in there. The wall behind the upright two cylinder has old seat pans covering it.

They will not be scrapped, the two sons have their own collections and the entire family knows the value.

I'm going to go back over in a couple of weeks and write down all he can tell me about them.

The quality of the castings is amazing. He's gotten engines that have been outside for decades and they clean up nice with only very minor pitting. If you left a casting from today out for a few years, it would corrode and flake away.

That's very impressive! They sure don't make them like they used to!